God loves us too much,
and so committed to His own glory, that He is devoted to our sanctification…
To meditate/pray upon
John 17:17 “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.”
Philippians 2:12-13 ‘Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always
obeyed – not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence –
continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it
is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good
purpose.’
What is
sanctification?
It means ‘to make holy’ – to become more like Jesus.
Wayne Grudem
summarised sanctification as,
‘Sanctification is a progressive work of God and man that makes
us more and more free from sin and like Christ in our actual lives.’
Sanctification is the
gift of God – it is He that is working in us; but it is a gift that we have to
receive by active participation. God sanctifies us in various ways:
·
The
bible and teaching – As we read, are taught and apply the bible
·
Christian
fellowship – The church community helps us to grow
·
Worship
and prayer – as we spend time with God, He transforms us
·
Experience
– God uses the experiences of our lives to train us
It’s vitally important to embrace the idea that God wants you to be more
holy; He is not happy to leave us in our sin and immaturity.
“Imagine yourself as
a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can
understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the
leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you
are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way
that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He
up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the
one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor
there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made
into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come
and live in it Himself.”
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
How are you doing in
this?
Take a moment to express your desire to be more holy, no areas out of
bounds!
Maybe use the words of Psalm 19 as a guide to prayer,
Psalm 19:14 ‘May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.’
You can catch up on all the messages in the
John series at:
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